A view of the Four Directions Clinic in Kyle, South Dakota. Photo from Native Women's Society of the Great Plains / Facebook
Independent journalist Mary Annette Pember reports on the work of the Four Directions Clinic, which the Indian Health Service has committed to keep funding to provide essential services to women on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota:
Tillie is everything they said she would be. Soft and comforting, she creates a safe place for those who need it. She doesn’t force herself on folks but is always available for a hug. Tillie is a female buffalo hide that hangs on the wall of the Four Directions Clinic in Kyle, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The clinic is the first Indian Health Service facility of its kind offering not only reproductive health services but also a full range of services for victims of sexual assault. The clinic’s buffalo hide was nicknamed “Tillie” by the staff in honor of Tillie Black Bear, Sicangu Lakota of the Rosebud tribe, a longtime advocate for battered women both nationally and in the Plains region. According to Terry Friend, former midwife at Four Directions Clinic, Black Bear was a groundbreaking grassroots advocate for battered and assaulted women in Indian country. Black Bear passed on in 2014. In many ways, the Four Directions Clinic symbolizes Black Bear’s grassroots mission to place the needs of victims first. The buffalo hide, Black Bear’s namesake, carries this spirit forward.Get the Story:
Mary Annette Pember: A Safer, Saner Place to Care for Victims of Sexual Assault (Indian Country Today 11/17)
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